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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of mortality in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. The role of metformin in reducing cardiovascular events is well‐established, but its effect on coronary artery inflammation in T2DM patients is still unclear. In this study, we evaluated 547 T2DM patients who underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) at Wuhan Central Hospital. Using propensity score matching, we compared the attenuation of pericoronary adipose tissue (PCAT), an imaging marker of coronary artery inflammation, between patients treated with and without metformin. Multiple linear regression models were used to analyze the influence of metformin on PCAT attenuation. The results of the propensity‐matched analysis showed that patients on metformin therapy had significantly lower PCAT attenuation, indicating reduced coronary inflammation. Specifically, the PCAT attenuation in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) and right coronary artery (RCA) was lower in the metformin group compared to the non‐metformin group. Metformin use was independently associated with decreased LAD‐PCAT attenuation in the multivariate regression analysis. The association of metformin with PCAT attenuation differed significantly in populations analyzed in subgroups of patients with obesity and chronic kidney disease. In conclusion, our study shows a preliminary signal that metformin therapy may be associated with decreased coronary artery inflammation in T2DM patients, as indicated by PCAT attenuation on CCTA. And this correlation may vary depending on the patient population. This initial finding suggests that PCAT attenuation could be potentially used as an imaging biomarker to monitor the anti‐inflammatory effects of medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bird cherry‐oat aphid (BCOA) and greenbug pose a persistent threat to wheat production in many wheat‐growing regions. Currently, greenbug resistance genes are limited for wheat improvement, and BCOA resistance sources are even more scarce. Thus, it is urgent to identify BCOA and greenbug resistance sources in wheat gene pools. An Aegilops tauschii (Ae. tauschii) panel of 260 accessions, which accounted for 48% of the total Ae. tauschii accessions available in global germplasm banks, was evaluated for BCOA resistance, and a set of BCOA‐resistant lines were identified. The same panel was evaluated for response to greenbug biotypes C, E, F, G, I, and TX1. A total of 102 lines exhibited 14 unique resistance profiles or phenotypes featuring resistance to at least one biotype. The frequency of resistant lines varied among lineages or subspecies, from 62% in Lineage 1 (subspecies tauschii) to 18% in Lineage 2 (subspecies stangulata), indicating conservation of genetic variance for greenbug resistance was nonrandom. Ae. tauschii accessions resistant to both BCOA and greenbug were identified for enhancing aphid resistance. Core Ideas: A bird cherry‐oat aphid (BCOA) assay protocol was developed.BCOA‐resistant Ae. tauschii lines were identified.Ae. tauschii lines with a wide spectrum of resistance to greenbug were found.Ae. tauschii lines resistant to both BCOA and greenbug were identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Multi‐modal learning is widely adopted to learn the latent complementary information between different modalities in multi‐modal medical image segmentation tasks. Nevertheless, the traditional multi‐modal learning methods require spatially well‐aligned and paired multi‐modal images for supervised training, which cannot leverage unpaired multi‐modal images with spatial misalignment and modality discrepancy. For training accurate multi‐modal segmentation networks using easily accessible and low‐cost unpaired multi‐modal images in clinical practice, unpaired multi‐modal learning has received comprehensive attention recently. Purpose: Existing unpaired multi‐modal learning methods usually focus on the intensity distribution gap but ignore the scale variation problem between different modalities. Besides, within existing methods, shared convolutional kernels are frequently employed to capture common patterns in all modalities, but they are typically inefficient at learning global contextual information. On the other hand, existing methods highly rely on a large number of labeled unpaired multi‐modal scans for training, which ignores the practical scenario when labeled data is limited. To solve the above problems, we propose a modality‐collaborative convolution and transformer hybrid network (MCTHNet) using semi‐supervised learning for unpaired multi‐modal segmentation with limited annotations, which not only collaboratively learns modality‐specific and modality‐invariant representations, but also could automatically leverage extensive unlabeled scans for improving performance. Methods: We make three main contributions to the proposed method. First, to alleviate the intensity distribution gap and scale variation problems across modalities, we develop a modality‐specific scale‐aware convolution (MSSC) module that can adaptively adjust the receptive field sizes and feature normalization parameters according to the input. Secondly, we propose a modality‐invariant vision transformer (MIViT) module as the shared bottleneck layer for all modalities, which implicitly incorporates convolution‐like local operations with the global processing of transformers for learning generalizable modality‐invariant representations. Third, we design a multi‐modal cross pseudo supervision (MCPS) method for semi‐supervised learning, which enforces the consistency between the pseudo segmentation maps generated by two perturbed networks to acquire abundant annotation information from unlabeled unpaired multi‐modal scans. Results: Extensive experiments are performed on two unpaired CT and MR segmentation datasets, including a cardiac substructure dataset derived from the MMWHS‐2017 dataset and an abdominal multi‐organ dataset consisting of the BTCV and CHAOS datasets. Experiment results show that our proposed method significantly outperforms other existing state‐of‐the‐art methods under various labeling ratios, and achieves a comparable segmentation performance close to single‐modal methods with fully labeled data by only leveraging a small portion of labeled data. Specifically, when the labeling ratio is 25%, our proposed method achieves overall mean DSC values of 78.56% and 76.18% in cardiac and abdominal segmentation, respectively, which significantly improves the average DSC value of two tasks by 12.84% compared to single‐modal U‐Net models. Conclusions: Our proposed method is beneficial for reducing the annotation burden of unpaired multi‐modal medical images in clinical applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammation and fibrosis are highly correlated with the progression of calcific aortic valve disease (CAVD). As one of the differentiated forms of valvular interstitial cells, myofibroblasts play a critical role in CAVD's development as do macrophages. Although numerous studies have been conducted on them separately, their communication and interaction remain unclear. We used porcine aortic valves to isolate valve interstitial cells (VICs). VICs were induced to differentiate into myofibroblasts by transforming growth factor‐β1 (TGF‐β1). After successful activation was determined, the myofibroblast‐conditioned medium (CM) was collected and used to act on RAW264.7, a macrophage cell line. A migration and adhesion assay estimated the recruitment capability of myofibroblasts on macrophages. We used flow cytometry, quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR), and Western blot analysis to investigate myofibroblasts' polarity promotion function in macrophages. Finally, we used macrophage‐CM on VICs to explore the differentiation induction function of polarized macrophages. Myofibroblast marker alpha‐smooth muscle actin and M2 macrophage marker CD163 were detected as upregulated in CAVD patients, and their expression has a certain correlation. The Smad3/HA/CD44 axis activated the differentiation of myofibroblasts by Western blot. The myofibroblast‐CM can promote chemotaxis and adhesion of macrophages through protein kinase B/chemokine (C–C motif) ligand5 and Smad3/HA/CD44, respectively. Hyaluronic acid (HA) inside the myofibroblast‐CM stimulates macrophages to polarize into M2 macrophages. In turn, M2 macrophage‐CM has the promotive ability to activate myofibroblasts but fails to induce the osteoblast differentiation of VICs directly. The crosstalk between myofibroblasts and macrophages causes the excessive activation of myofibroblasts. This positive feedback loop may play a vital role in CAVD progression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Solution blending approach was introduced to prepare flexible Polycarbonate (PC)‐based composited films with excellent transparent projection performance. After modified by an aluminate coupling agent DL‐411(ACA‐1), alumina (Al2O3) possesses improved dispersity. There may form oxygen bridge between aluminum atoms on Al2O3 and ACA‐1. With the long aliphatic chain directing outwards, the compatibility between PC and modified Al2O3 was significantly improved. The dispersion of Al2O3 particles in PC was therewith promoted. After vacuum drying, well‐blended mixtures were developed and PC films containing Al2O3 clusters can be prepared. The composite films have good light transmission and diffuse reflection effects. When Al2O3/PC mass ratio is beneath 0.2, the composited films possess excellent transparency comparable with pure PC film. The diffuse reflection performance of PC composite films is gradually enhanced with the increase of Al2O3 content. When Al2O3/PC ratio attains 0.1, the visible light reflectance amounts 15%, which can even exceed 30% with the ratio reaches 0.5. The composite films show improved resistance to UV irradiation as the visible light reflectance and transparency are comparable to un‐radiated samples. The hydrophobicity of composite films with a certain Al2O3 amount increases, which brings forth good anti‐moisture property for these transparent projection screen films. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenbug (Schizaphisgraminum Rondani) is one of the aphids causing significant cereal yield losses worldwide, and greenbug Biotype H is virulent to all known greenbug resistance genes in barley (Hordeum L.). Wild barley (Hordeum vulgare ssp. spontaneum) accession WBDC336 (PI 682028) exhibits resistance to greenbug Biotypes C, E, H, I, WY81, WY12 MC, and WY86. To investigate the genetics of greenbug resistance in WBDC336, a recombinant inbred line (RIL) population was developed from the cross Weskan × WBDC336. The RIL population was evaluated for responses to greenbug Biotype E and genotyped using genotyping‐by‐sequencing. Among 67,238 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) identified, 3,907 high quality SNPs were selected for gene mapping after several filtering steps. Linkage analysis positioned the greenbug resistance gene to a 1.14‐Mb interval in the terminal region of the long arm of chromosome 3H in WBDC336, where the greenbug resistance gene Rsg1 resides. Greenbug assays and an allelism test indicated that the greenbug resistance gene in WBDC336 is likely an allele at the Rsg1 locus and was given the allele designation Rsg1.a3. Two Kompetitive allele‐specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP) markers were developed from SNPs closely linked to Rsg1.a3, and these markers can be used to tag both alleles at the Rsg1 locus in breeding program utilizing marker‐assisted selection. Core Ideas: The first barley gene conferring resistance to greenbug Biotype H was identified in WBDC366.The greenbug resistance gene in WBDC366, designated Rsg1.a3, is likely allelic to Rsg1.Two KASP markers closely linked to Rsg1.a3 were developed for marker‐assisted selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The segmentation accuracy of medical images was improved by increasing the number of training samples using a local image warping technique. The performance of the proposed method was evaluated in the segmentation of breast masses, prostate and brain tumors, and lung nodules. Methods: We propose a simple data augmentation method which is called stochastic evolution (SE). Specifically, the idea of SE stems from our thinking about the deterioration of the diseased tissue and the healing process. In order to simulate this natural process, we implement it according to the local distortion algorithm in image warping. In other words, the irregular deterioration and healing processes of the diseased tissue is simulated according to the direction of the local distortion, thereby producing a natural sample that is indistinguishable by humans. Results: The proposed method is evaluated on four segmentation tasks of breast masses, prostate, brain tumors, and lung nodules. Comparing the experimental results of four segmentation methods based on the UNet segmentation architecture without adding any expanded data during training, the accuracy and the Hausdorff distance obtained in our approach remain almost the same as other methods. However, the dice similarity coefficient (DSC) and sensitivity (SEN) have both improved to some extent. Among them, DSC is increased by 5.2%, 2.8%, 1.0%, and 3.2%, respectively; SEN is increased by 6.9%, 4.3%, 1.2%, and 4.5%, respectively. Conclusions: Experimental results show that the proposed SE data augmentation method could improve the segmentation accuracy of breast masses, prostate, brain tumors, and lung nodules. The method also shows the robustness with different image datasets and imaging modalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Greenbug [Schizaphis graminum (Rondani)] is a destructive pest of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) worldwide. Incorporation of wheat greenbug resistance genes in wheat‐breeding pipelines is critical to improve wheat production. The greenbug resistance gene Gb5, originally identified in Triticum speltoides chromosome 7S and transferred to wheat chromosome 7A, confers resistance to several economically important greenbug biotypes. The T. speltoides chromosome segment carrying Gb5 was previously shortened by means of homoeologous recombination induced by the ph1b gene, which minimized linkage drag and made Gb5 a useful gene for improvement of greenbug resistance in wheat. This study characterized the shortened T. speltoides chromosome segment in PI 603919 and developed kompetitive allele‐specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP) markers to facilitate its introgression in wheat breeding. A set of 21 simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers specific to wheat 7AL chromosome were developed to determine the length and location of the T. speltoides chromosome segment. The T. speltoides segment in PI 603919 was estimated to be about 79.5–87.8 Mb in the Chinese Spring reference sequence IWGSC RefSeq v.1.0. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population derived from a cross between CI 17884, which carries the original wheat‐T. speltoides 7A‐7S translocation chromosome segment, and Bainong 418 was genotyped using the genotyping‐by‐sequencing (GBS) approach and evaluated for responses to greenbug biotype E. Three GBS‐derived single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) on the shortened translocation segment were converted to KASP markers. These KASP markers were evaluated for efficacy to select Gb5 in wheat breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tomato leaf mould disease is a serious foliar disease caused by Cladosporium fulvum, resulting in a significant reduction in yield and quality, especially under protected cultivation. Finding new resistant genes against leaf mould has become one of the important goals of tomato breeding. Cf‐12‐tomato showed good resistance to several C. fulvum races. The Cf‐12 was mapped using re‐sequencing and BSA methods. Allelism test for Cf‐12, Cf‐5 and Cf‐9 was performed. The results showed that Cf‐12 is an independently assigned C. fulvum resistance gene. About 67,853 high‐quality polymorphic SNPs were found and 233 genes were annotated in three associated regions of 5.85 Mb on Chr. 6s. Three genes with typical Cf‐type characters encoding the leucine‐rich repeat receptor‐like protein were screened out. Using qRT‐PCR, structural and phylogenetic analysis, only the Solyc06g008265.1.1‐CGN7495 was finally identified. An effective InDel marker, InD‐3F/1R, was designed for MAS breeding. Our research provides new insights into the mapping of the Cf‐12, and provides a basis for Cf‐12 cloning and the Cf genetic evolution analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Osteoarthritis is a typical degenerative joint disease related to a lubrication deficiency of articular cartilage, which is characterized by increased friction at the joint surface and severe inflammation of the joint capsule. Consequently, therapies combining lubrication restoration and drug intervention are regarded as a promising strategy for the treatment of osteoarthritis. In the present study, thermo‐sensitive dual‐functional nanospheres, poly[N‐isopropylacrylamide‐2‐methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine] (PNIPAM‐PMPC), are developed through emulsion polymerization. The PNIPAM‐PMPC nanospheres could enhance lubrication based on the hydration lubrication mechanism by forming a tenacious hydration layer surrounding the zwitterionic headgroups, and achieve local drug delivery by encapsulating the anti‐inflammatory drug diclofenac sodium. The lubrication and drug release tests showed improved lubrication and thermo‐sensitive drug release of the nanospheres. The in vitro test using cytokines‐treated chondrocytes indicated that the PNIPAM‐PMPC nanospheres were biocompatible and upregulated anabolic genes and simultaneously downregulated catabolic genes of the articular cartilage. In summary, the developed PNIPAM‐PMPC nanospheres, with the property of enhanced lubrication and local drug delivery, can be an effective nanomedicine for the treatment of osteoarthritis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Russian wheat aphid (RWA, Diuraphis noxia Kurdjumov) is a global pest of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that became a significant problem to wheat and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) in the United States soon after it was detected in 1986. Russian wheat aphid‐resistant wheat varieties expressing the Dn4 gene were effective in managing the first biotype, RWA1, from 1995–2003 until a new biotype, RWA2, overcame this resistance in 2003. Currently, only three genes are useful in developing RWA2 resistance in wheat. A new gene, Dn10, was recently discovered that is resistant to RWA2. This study characterized the effects that RWA1 and RWA2 had on the damage (leaf chlorosis and leaf roll) and growth components (plant height and leaf number) of plants expressing RWA resistance genes Dn4, Dn7, Dn10, Dn2401, Dn626580, and Dn2414 and the susceptible 'Yuma' 22 d after infestation. All plant genotypes that were RWA resistant expressed strong resistance to leaf chlorosis and leaf roll after RWA1 feeding. Results were similar for RWA2 except for the Dn4 genotype, which was equally susceptible as Yuma. Plant height was reduced by 50% for susceptible Yuma and Dn626580 by RWA1 and RWA2 feeding. Plant height and leaf reduction from RWA2 feeding on the susceptible Dn4 genotype were also reduced by 50%, whereas Dn7, Dn10, and Dn2414 reductions were <23%. Dn10 exhibited strong resistance to RWA1 and RWA2 feeding damage comparable with Dn7 and Dn2414 and showed less reduction in plant height than Dn2401 and Dn626580, which makes it a potentially valuable gene for wheat breeding programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eutrophication of environmental waters and occurrence of harmful cyanobacterial blooms have drawn much attention all over the world. For controlling cyanobacteria overgrowth, biological control methods such as anticyanobacterial process by microorganisms have been recently explored. In this study, a Streptomyces strain named HJC‐D1 is isolated from an eutrophic pond in China, which exhibited anticyanobacterial activity against a representative bloom‐forming cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa. Based on its morphology and 16S rRNA sequence, the isolated strain is identified as Streptomyces sp. Results show that the M. aeruginosa is biodegraded by the isolated strain HJC‐D1, and the Chl a removal efficiency is 53.5 ± 4.3%–62.6 ± 3.3% at the initial Chl a concentration of 0.2713–0.6375 mg L−1. The anticyanobacterial mechanism of Streptomyces sp. on M. aeruginosa is that the growth of cyanobacterial cell is destroyed by the active substances secreted by strain HJC‐D1, and TEM results demonstrate the degradation processes are divided into three steps: cell breakage, organelle release, and cell death. The isolated microorganism may be a potential environment‐friendly strain and provides a possible approach for Microcystis bloom control in lakes and reservoirs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Russian wheat aphid (Diuraphis noxia Kurdjumov [RWA]) is one of the most invasive and detrimental pests, and host plant resistance is the most efficient approach to manage RWA. Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) accessions resistant to RWA biotype 1 (RWA1) and biotype 2 (RWA2) were previously identified by screening wheat accessions available at the USDA‐ARS National Small Grains Collection. However, RWA biotypic variation necessitates a continuous search for sources of resistance to new RWA biotypes. The objective of this study was to identify wheat accessions resistant to all major RWA biotypes in the United States. A set of 172 RWA‐resistant wheat accessions, mainly Iranian landraces, were evaluated for responses to five predominant U.S. biotypes—RWA1, RWA2, RWA3, RWA6, and RWA8—in controlled environments. Of these, 137 accessions showed homogeneous or heterogeneous resistance to at least one biotype, and 14 of them were resistant or highly resistant to all five biotypes. Another set of 19 accessions were resistant or highly resistant to two to four biotypes. These RWA‐resistant accessions are valuable sources for RWA resistance improvement, and further purification of some accessions and characterization of the underlying RWA resistance genes are imperative for their utilization in wheat breeding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Solid phase denitrification (SPD) has achieved efficient performance mostly under anoxic conditions for nitrate reduction, while it has few applications in achieving simultaneous nitrification and denitrification (SND) for ammonium nitrogen (NH4+‐N)‐rich water treatment. This study attempted to develop aerobic SPD systems with three alkali‐pretreated biodegradable carriers (rice husk, pomelo peel and durian peel). RESULTS: The three carriers all achieved much higher average nitrogen removal rates (0.56–0.68 mg NH4+‐N L−1 h−1, 0.06–0.50 mg total nitrogen (TN) L−1 h−1) than those of the control reactor without carriers (0.18 mg NH4+‐N L−1 h−1, <0.01 mg TN L−1 h−1) at a dissolved oxygen (DO) concentration of 2.5 mg L−1, and no decline in SND efficiency occurred when the DO level increased to 7.5 mg L−1. However, the aerobic denitrification efficiency was reduced with declining organic availability of the biodegradable carrier. Durian peel carrier exhibited the most efficient TN removal performance and the longest efficiently stable stage owing to its higher carbon content, and a lower DO concentration of 2.5 mg L−1 was helpful for achieving a longer efficiently stable stage. There were significant differences in the dominant bacteria attached to the three biofilm carriers. Meanwhile, higher enrichment of nirS‐type than nirK‐type denitrifier diversity was found, especially at a higher DO level, and 18 new aerobic denitrifiers were identified. CONCLUSION: The aerobic SPD system could achieve efficient nitrification and denitrification, which was strongly affected by the organic availability of the biodegradable carrier. Therefore, aerobic SPD could be considered as an attractive technology for nitrogen removal in ammonium‐rich water and wastewater. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this report, a yolk‐shell‐structured Si/graphene (Si/GR) material has been designed and successfully fabricated as an anode for lithium‐ion batteries (LIBs). With this approach, Si@Ni composite particles were fabricated by electroless deposition of a nickel template directly on silicon; then, three‐dimensional (3D) graphene layers were grown in situ around the composite particles to obtain a Si@Ni@GR structure. After removing the nickel interlayer, some voids were generated between the silicon particles and the graphene layers, thus forming a Si@void@GR structure. The coexistence of voids and the graphene layer may provide a synergistic effect. The voids may reserve space for silicon particles during volume expansion and buffer the mechanical pressure of the graphene layer. Meanwhile, the graphene cover may enhance lithium‐ion transport efficiency and electron transport rate, thereby improving the electrical conductivity of the anode. The well‐coated layers can also prevent the Si particles from being directly exposed to electrolyte, which can promote the formation of a stable SEI film and reduce the irreversible consumption of Li+. Therefore, such unique yolk‐shell structures offer the resultant Si@void@GR electrode a high reversible discharge capacity (1595 mAh g−1 after 100 cycles at a current density of 500 mA g−1) and the capacity to deliver a discharge capacity of 990 mAh g−1 even at a high current density of 4.8 A g−1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We proposed a modulable integrated multi‐function scan driver for active‐matrix organic light‐emitting diode (AMOLED) display based on low‐temperature‐poly‐Si thin‐film transistors (LTPS TFTs). The proposed circuit provides dual outputs, the pulse width and time interval of which can be modulated, which is expected to be applied in high resolution AMOLED display. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High temperature (HT) is becoming an increasingly serious factor in limiting crop production with global climate change. During hot seasons, owing to prevailing HT, cultivated tomatoes are prone to exhibiting stigma exsertion, which hampers pollination and causes fruit set failure. However, the underlying regulatory mechanisms of the HT‐induced stigma exsertion remain largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that stigma exsertion induced by HT in cultivated tomato is caused by more seriously shortened stamens than pistils, which is different from the stigma exsertion observed in wild tomato species. Under the HT condition, the different responses of pectin, sugar, expansin, and cyclin cause cell wall remodelling and differentially localized cell division and selective cell enlargement, which further determine the lengths of stamens and pistils. In addition, auxin and jasmonate (JA) are implicated in regulating cell division and cell expansion in stamens and pistils, and exogenous JA instead of auxin treatment can effectively rescue tomato stigma exsertion through regulating the JA/COI1 signalling pathway. Our findings provide a better understanding of stigma exsertions under the HT condition in tomato and uncover a new function of JA in improving plant abiotic stress tolerance. Stigma exsertion is commonly observed in cultivated tomatoes under elevated temperature conditions, which severely hampers pollination and fruit set. We demonstrate that high temperature (HT)‐induced stigma exsertion in cultivated tomato is caused by more shortened stamens than pistils. The difference of stamen and pistil length changes under HT is attributed to the different responses of pectin, sugar, expansin, and cyclin, which causes cell wall remodelling and differentially localized cell division and selective cell enlargement under the HT condition. The JA/COI1 signalling pathway participates in regulating HT‐induced stigma exsertion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Underwater vibration detection is of great importance in personal safety, environmental protection, and military defense. Sealing layers are required in many underwater sensor architectures, leading to limited working‐life and reduced sensitivity. Here, a flexible, superhydrophobic, and conductive tungsten disulfide (WS2) nanosheets‐wrapped sponge (SCWS) is reported for the high‐sensitivity detection of tiny vibration from the water surfaces and from the grounds. When the SCWS is immersed in water, a continuous layer of bubbles forms on its surfaces, providing the sensor with two special abilities. One is sealing‐free feature due to the intrinsic water‐repellent property of SCWS. The other is functioning as a vibration‐sensitive medium to convert mechanical energy into electric signals through susceptible physical deformation of bubbles. Therefore, the SCWS can be used to precisely detect tiny vibration of water waves, and even sense those caused by human footsteps, demonstrating wide applications of this amphibious (water/ground) vibration sensor. Results of this study can initiate the exploration of superhydrophobic materials with elastic and conductive properties for underwater flexible electronic applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Ternary composite films of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), boric acid (BA), and detonation nanodiamond (DND) were prepared by aqueous solution method. Because of its excellent mechanical/thermal properties and low friction coefficient, DND is expected to offer PVA film superior performance if the puzzles of particle agglomeration in polymer matrix and fragile interface reaction between DND and PVA can be settled. BA was used as a crosslinking agent to form a strong network structure between DND and PVA. Investigation on microstructure of PVA/BA/DND films and bonding mechanisms therein shows that BA, DND, and PVA may crosslink by oxo-bridges owing to the interaction of hydroxyl groups. The Young's modulus ( E) of composite films was enhanced by nearly 3.3 times with only 0.8 wt % DND loading, and the antiwear, thermal stability, and waterproof properties can be significantly improved after the crosslinking. Meanwhile, the transparency of composite films can be well preserved even with large DND content. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2017, 134, 45449. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pomegranate ( Punica granatum L.) is a perennial fruit crop grown since ancient times that has been planted worldwide and is known for its functional metabolites, particularly punicalagins. We have sequenced and assembled the pomegranate genome with 328 Mb anchored into nine pseudo-chromosomes and annotated 29 229 gene models. A Myrtales lineage-specific whole-genome duplication event was detected that occurred in the common ancestor before the divergence of pomegranate and Eucalyptus. Repetitive sequences accounted for 46.1% of the assembled genome. We found that the integument development gene INNER NO OUTER ( INO) was under positive selection and potentially contributed to the development of the fleshy outer layer of the seed coat, an edible part of pomegranate fruit. The genes encoding the enzymes for synthesis and degradation of lignin, hemicelluloses and cellulose were also differentially expressed between soft- and hard-seeded varieties, reflecting differences in their accumulation in cultivars differing in seed hardness. Candidate genes for punicalagin biosynthesis were identified and their expression patterns indicated that gallic acid synthesis in tissues could follow different biochemical pathways. The genome sequence of pomegranate provides a valuable resource for the dissection of many biological and biochemical traits and also provides important insights for the acceleration of breeding. Elucidation of the biochemical pathway(s) involved in punicalagin biosynthesis could assist breeding efforts to increase production of this bioactive compound. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The multi-atlas patch-based label fusion (LF) method mainly focuses on the measurement of the patch similarity which is the comparison between the atlas patch and the target patch. To enhance the LF performance, the distribution probability about the target can be used during the LF process. Hence, we consider two LF schemes: in the first scheme, we keep the results of the interpolation so that we can obtain the labels of the atlas with discrete values (between 0 and 1) instead of binary values in the label propagation. In doing so, each atlas can be treated as a probability atlas. Second, we introduce the distribution probability of the tissue (to be segmented) in the sparse patch-based LF process. Based on the probability of the tissue and sparse patch-based representation, we propose three different LF methods which are called LF-Method-1, LF-Method-2, and LF-Method-3. In addition, an automated estimation method about the distribution probability of the tissue is also proposed. To evaluate the accuracy of our proposed LF methods, the methods were compared with those of the nonlocal patch-based LF method (Nonlocal-PBM), the sparse patch-based LF method (Sparse-PBM), majority voting method, similarity and truth estimation for propagated segmentations, and hierarchical multi-atlas LF with multi-scale feature representation and label-specific patch partition (HMAS). Based on our experimental results and quantitative comparison, our methods are promising in the magnetic resonance image segmentation. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 27, 23-32, 2017 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Receptor-like proteins (RLPs), forming an important group of transmembrane receptors in plants, play roles in development and immunity. RLPs contain extracellular leucine-rich repeats (LRRs) and, in contrast with receptor-like kinases (RLKs), lack a cytoplasmic kinase required for the initiation of downstream signalling. Recent studies have revealed that the RLK SOBIR1/EVR (SUPPRESSOR OF BIR1-1/EVERSHED) specifically interacts with RLPs. SOBIR1 stabilizes RLPs and is required for their function. However, the mechanism by which SOBIR1 associates with RLPs and regulates RLP function remains unknown. The Cf immune receptors of tomato (Solanum lycopersicum), mediating resistance to the fungus Cladosporium fulvum, are RLPs that also interact with SOBIR1. Here, we show that both the LRR and kinase domain of SOBIR1 are dispensable for association with the RLP Cf-4, whereas the highly conserved GxxxGxxxG motif present in the transmembrane domain of SOBIR1 is essential for its interaction with Cf-4 and additional RLPs. Complementation assays in Nicotiana benthamiana, in which endogenous SOBIR1 levels were knocked down by virus-induced gene silencing, showed that the LRR domain as well as the kinase activity of SOBIR1 are required for the Cf-4/Avr4-triggered hypersensitive response (HR). In contrast, the LRRs and kinase activity of SOBIR1 are not required for facilitation of Cf-4 accumulation. Together, these results suggest that, in addition to being a stabilizing scaffold for RLPs, SOBIR1 is also required for the initiation of downstream signalling through its kinase domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The worldwide prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders is expected to rise due to an accelerating aging population and increasing associated factors. Despite the high rate of disability induction, clinical options for the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders remain limited. Hydrogel microspheres (HMSs), which are colloidal particles with crosslinked polymer networks at the nanometer scale, are characterized by excellent biocompatibility, easy‐to‐tune structures (e.g., stiffness, porosity, and composition), and high encapsulation efficiency of therapeutic agents (e.g., drugs and cells). At present, multiple techniques are utilized for the fabrication of HMSs and encapsulation of therapeutic agents. The HMSs can be produced and used in different states to match specific utilizations. These desirable properties, along with their injectability, bestow HMSs with mutifunctionalities that can be utilized for a variety of biomedical applications (e.g., delivery of biologics, tissue regeneration, and bio‐lubrication), and thus enable them to be promising tools for tackling a variety of clinical diseases. Herein, the focus is the fabrication and application of therapeutic HMSs for i) bone disorders, ii) cartilage and osteochondral disorders, iii) intervertebral disc (IVD) disorders, and iv) neurovascular disorders, with the aim of overviewing the recent progress to summarize key contributions and findings and highlight the limitations and opportunities in this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]